Another typical "human rights" discussion at the UN, this time in the Third Committee of the General Assembly. Iran accuses Israel of shelling schools and beating Palestinian teachers in front of students. The Palestinian observer wildly distorts the lives of Palestinian children, never mentioning Palestinian terrorism against Israel. Lebanon baldly justifies Hezbollah's terrorism: "Hizbollah is only a reaction against oppression, the result of occupation...Hizbollah was only a popular resistance movement in response to Israeli oppression and occupation of Lebanese lands."

This draft resolution, put forward by the states of the "Non-Aligned" Movement (NAM) and the Arab Group in the General Assembly's Third Committee unilaterally condemns Israel for human rights violations in Lebanon as a result of the "Israeli invasion." It does not mention the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers that started the war, the thousands of rockets Hezbollah aimed at the Israeli civilian population, or the 42 Israeli civilians who died as a result of Hezbollah's terrorism. The fiction in these UN circles is that Lebanon and Hezbollah were passive victims, while the Israeli "aggressors" must be condemned.

Is $5 billion too much money for the US to be giving annually to the UN? Member states in the UN's budget committee (the Fifth Committee) have now asked the opposite question: is it too little? The decision in 2000 to put a 22% ceiling on donations to the UN is now up for review. Already the G-77 and China are gearing up for a fight. They claim "the rationale for requiring a reduction of the ceiling has not been met." These are the same 132 countries that by virtue of their UN majority derailed proposed basic management reforms this past spring. The 22% ceiling only affects the United States. Without the ceiling, assessed U.S. contributions would be upwards of 30% of the UN budget. Countries that have expressed a desire to review the 22% ceiling on U.S. UN donations include Venezuela, Pakistan and the 20 Latin American countries that make up the Rio Group. Informal negotiations are set to start shortly after countries and blocs submit proposals. Commenting in the context of reform failures, Ambassador John Bolton accurately describes the situation at the UN this way: "it's fun spending other people's money."

Anne Bayefsky

Is $5 billion too much money for the US to be giving annually to the UN? Member states in the UN's budget committee (the Fifth Committee) have now asked the opposite question: is it too little? The decision in 2000 to put a 22% ceiling on donations to the UN is now up for review. Already the G-77 and China are gearing up for a fight. They claim "the rationale for requiring a reduction of the ceiling has not been met." These are the same 132 countries that by virtue of their UN majority derailed proposed basic management reforms this past spring. The 22% ceiling only affects the United States. Without the ceiling, assessed U.S. contributions would be upwards of 30% of the UN budget. Countries that have expressed a desire to review the 22% ceiling on U.S. UN donations include Venezuela, Pakistan and the 20 Latin American countries that make up the Rio Group. Informal negotiations are set to start shortly after countries and blocs submit proposals. Commenting in the context of reform failures, Ambassador John Bolton accurately describes the situation at the UN this way: "it's fun spending other people's money."

Iran and Syria - the recent sponsors of Hezbollah's war against Israel - use the UN's Sixth Committee to cast victims as terrorists and terrorists as victims. The Sixth Committee is supposed to take the lead on international law. Iran calls "foreign occupation" the "most lethal, horrific and devastating form of state terrorism" and a root cause of terrorism while Syria calls for "a clear distinction between terrorism and the just fight of people against foreign occupation". Syria also blames terrorism on the Danish cartoons: "the cartoons that depicted the prophet in an unbecoming manner, represent intellectual terrorism and those who hold these doctrines must be held accountable for the resurgence of terrorism." The Organization of the Islamic Conference - representing 56 Islamic countries - joins their calls for distinguishing between "terrorism and the just fight of people under foreign occupation."

In the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly, the United Arab Emirates urges even more UN resources (and U.S. taxpayer funds) be spent on increasing the use of the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) to publicize the Palestinian situation under Israeli occupation. As the Israeli delegate pointed out, the Palestinians are the only group of people in the world that has a special information program in DPI already.

Another meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly - the Committee responsible for human rights - where the UN platform is used to demonize Israel. Iran - the state sponsor of Hezbollah's recent targeting of Israeli population centers - accuses Israel of shelling Palestinian schools. Lebanon again repeats its accusation that Israel dropped unexploded bombs disguised as toys and chocolate in order to attract children.